Miles & More - Lufthansa

Miles & More
Miles & More is the official frequent flyer program for Lufthansa, which is one of the biggest airlines in the world. This particular airline is well known for its luxurious first-class and many amenities, but its rewards program is also something that is definitely worth looking into. If you fly with this airline or their partners often, it is highly recommended that you take the time to see what this rewards program has to offer. There are a lot of benefits associated with this program, especially for those who fly with this particular airline a lot.

You will find that the Miles & More program offers many different ways for you to earn points, which you can use for free award flights, cabin upgrades, hotel bookings, car rentals, and much more. This program currently has over 25 million members, and it was started as a Lufthansa-specific program, but it’s now the primary rewards program of 13 European airlines, including SWISS, Brussels Airlines, and Luxembourg Luxair. It's extremely easy to earn points through this program because of all the different partner airlines, so it is important that you keep that in mind.
  • Pros
  • Children discount ❹
  • Discount 10K miles ❶
  • SWISS first-class tickets ❺
  • Two stopovers are permitted
  • Fly Smart discount up to 50% ❻
  • Mileage Bargains up to 50% off
  • Good number of partner airlines
  • Cons
  • Booking restriction ❸
  • Only one 1 : 1 transfer partner
  • Most airlines impose fuel surcharge
  • Most airlines cannot be booked online
  • Fees & Charges
  • Change award fee ❷
    EUR 50
  • Cancellation fee ❷
    EUR 50
  • Phone booking fee
    $0
  • Expiration: Miles expire 36 months since last activity.
  • For some programs, an activity is any accrual of miles, crediting a flight, transfering or purchasing miles. For others, spending activities such as redeeming or donating points counts as an activity.
  • ❶ U.S. residents pay 10K award miles less for a round trip flight to Europe
  • ❷ Free within 24 hours after booking. No changes to departure or destination airports permitted
  • ❸ Award flights cannot be booked less than two days before departure
  • ❹ Award tickets for children 2-11 require 75 percent the usual award miles
  • ❺ Award tickets in SWISS first class may only be booked by Miles & More members
  • ❻ Fly Smart fares bookable two weeks before departure require 50 percent fewer miles

Transfer Partners

1,000
Hyatt points
2.5 : 1
400
miles
56 days
1,000
Marriott points
3 : 1
+ 15,000 bonus
333
miles
42 days
1,000
BW points
5 : 1
200
miles
7 days
1,000
IHG points
5 : 1
200
miles
42 days
1,000
Carlson points
10 : 1
100
miles
42 days
1,000
Hilton points
10 : 1
100
miles
4 days
The ratio is the number of flexible reward points it would take to transfer to Miles & More.
Transfer time is what is reported by the transfer programs, supplemented by our own research. However, actual time to transfer is often highly variable.

Airlines and Fuel Surcharge

This table will show you the partner airlines can be booked online and those which impose fuel surcharge.

Airline
Online
Booking
Fuel
Surcharge
Alliance
Adria Airways Adria Airways
Star Alliance™
Croatia Airlines Croatia Airlines
Star Alliance™
Eurowings Eurowings
No alliance
Austrian Airlines Austrian Airlines
Star Alliance™
Brussels Airlines Brussels Airlines
Star Alliance™
Condor Flugdienst Condor Flugdienst
No alliance
LOT Polish Airlines LOT Polish Airlines
Star Alliance™
Lufthansa Lufthansa
Star Alliance™
SWISS SWISS
Star Alliance™
Aegean Airlines Aegean Airlines
Star Alliance™
Air Astana Air Astana
No alliance
Air Dolomiti Air Dolomiti
No alliance
Air India Air India
Star Alliance™
Air Malta Air Malta
No alliance
Avianca Avianca
Star Alliance™
Copa Airlines Copa Airlines
Star Alliance™
Germanwings Germanwings
No alliance
Jet Airways Jet Airways
No alliance
Airline
Online
Booking
Fuel
Surcharge
Alliance
Luxair Luxair
No alliance
Shenzhen Airlines Shenzhen Airlines
Star Alliance™
Air Canada Air Canada
Star Alliance™
Air China Air China
Star Alliance™
Air New Zealand Air New Zealand
Star Alliance™
ANA ANA
Star Alliance™
Asiana Airlines Asiana Airlines
Star Alliance™
EgyptAir EgyptAir
Star Alliance™
Ethiopian Airlines Ethiopian Airlines
Star Alliance™
EVA Air EVA Air
Star Alliance™
Scandinavian Airlines Scandinavian Airlines
Star Alliance™
Singapore Airlines Singapore Airlines
Star Alliance™
South African Airways South African Airways
Star Alliance™
TAP Portugal TAP Portugal
Star Alliance™
Thai Airways Thai Airways
Star Alliance™
Turkish Airlines Turkish Airlines
Star Alliance™
United Airlines United Airlines
Star Alliance™

Program Review

Lufthansa, which is also known as Lufthansa German Airlines, is the largest German airline and, when combined with its subsidiaries, also the largest airline in Europe in terms of sheer fleet size. It is the second largest airline in terms of passengers carried during 2016. It operates services to 18 domestic destinations and 197 international destinations in 78 countries across Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe, using a fleet of more than 270 aircraft. Lufthansa is one of the five founding members of Star Alliance, the world's largest airline alliance, formed in 1997. This airline’s rewards program, known as Miles & More, is extremely popular with millions of members all over the world. This program offers its members the chance to accrue points/miles, which can be used for any number of things, including award flights, hotel bookings, and cabin upgrades. Those who fly often with Lufthansa will want to make a point of looking into this program thoroughly.

Miles & More Program

The Miles & More program that Lufthansa runs offers a fairly quick and effective way for travelers to earn points that can be used to book free flights as well as cabin upgrades among other things. This program offers lots of different ways to go about earning points, so it shouldn’t be too difficult for those who fly with this airline or their partners often. Considering the many benefits of this rewards program, it is certainly worth at least looking into.

Earning Miles & More Points

There are different types of miles that you can earn when flying with Lufthansa or one of their partners as a member of this rewards program, including:

  • Award miles: You can spend them on different awards. Note that this type of miles remains valid for 3 years (full 36 months). Although, Frequent Flyers', Senators', HON Circle and JetFriend Members' miles don't expire as long as they retain their status.
  • Status miles: This kind of miles is available for Frequent Flyers and Senators. They are counted within a year. Note that each mile can be also counted as an award mile.
  • HON Circle miles: In contrast to the previous type of miles, this kind determines HON Circle status and is counted within two years of activity.

You are able to earn the miles when choosing domestic flights or round-the-world trips with Miles & More airline partners. The process of acquiring the miles is fast and easy. Simply enter your Miles & More card number when making a booking or present the card when checking-in. It's needed to mention that your mileage account gets a miles credit when staying in one of our partners' hotel. It doesn't matter what type of hotel it is - either a holiday hotel or a luxury one.

Also, you can earn miles by using our international car rental partners' services. And finally, you have additional perks for shopping time. The Miles & More partners will reward any of your purchases with award miles. You're welcome to earn miles when making purchases in fashion, magazine and newspaper stores, perfumeries, and even more.

Redeeming Mileage Points

You will find that there are a number of different things that you can use the points you have accrued for, including flights and upgrades. There's the opportunity to book flight awards when flying with the Star Alliance partners and other Miles&More airline partners. You can consider the award upgrade in order to change a service class of an already booked ticket. There's an option to book the upgrades with multiple Star Alliance partners and Condor.

Miles & More members will also have the option of spending the miles they earn in this program on hotel accommodations when traveling. There are lots of different hotels that you can use your points for all over the world. When you are traveling, you will also be able to use your points for car rentals. When you want to redeem the points you have earned through this rewards program, you will need to go on the official Lufthansa website to do so.

Routing Rules

There are some routing rules when it comes to Lufthansa’s Miles & More program, and it’s important that you know what they are. Members who fly with this airline will be allowed 1 stopover or 1 open-jaw. Roundtrips are allowed.

Booking Fees & Charges

One of the best things about Lufthansa’s Miles & More program and the airline, in general, is that there aren’t very many booking fees that you will encounter. There is, however, a $54 fee for changing flights.

Redeem on Upgrades

You will have the option of using the points/miles that you have accumulated as a Miles & More member for upgrades on your flights to a higher class. You can upgrade your booked Economy Class flight to Business Class from just 10,000 miles or by using an eVoucher. Those who book a Premium Economy route can upgrade from Economy Class to Premium Economy Class, or from Premium Economy Class to Business Class. You must have the required number of points/miles for the upgrade though.

Elite Levels

There are lots of different Elite levels that you will be able to work your way up through in the Miles & More program. It only takes one award mile to qualify for the basic membership level, but you will need 35,000 for the Frequent Traveler level, 100,000 for the Senator level, and 600,000 for the Hon Circle Member level. Each of these Elite status levels comes with their own benefits. Some of the benefits of these Elite levels include additional miles, miles not expiring, and the ability to save quite a bit of money on your flights.

Benefits of Lufthansa Miles & More Program

You will quickly discover that there are many different benefits associated with the Lufthansa Miles & More program, such as that there are some truly great “Mileage Bargains” discount economy awards for just 30,000 miles. There are also great stopover and open-jaw policies for round-trip awards, making it easier than ever to save money when traveling. Members of this program can use the points/miles they have accrued for a number of different things, including hotel bookings, award flights, flight upgrades, and even car hire.